Ties That Break
by Dimples
Summary: When Paige meets a dashing stranger at P3 one night after a messy break-up with Glenn, the stranger's affections become much more than Paige could have ever imagined. Will she be able to escape him, or perish trying? **CH 3 UP NOW** #FINAL#
1. The Fish

Teaser: Paige, after a messy break-up with Glenn, tries to find a new love, but will the new man's love be more than Paige could have anticipated?

Dedicated to all the FOP's (fans of Paige) out there. There isn't really a big market of Paige-friendly fics, and I've done a series for all the other sisters, so why not her too? 

Disclaimer: Don't own anyone/anything except Adrian, and I almost wish I didn't own him. Aaron Spelling can have him. He's icky.

Rating: PG-13, for adult language, content, and some violence later on.

Ties That Break

Part 1: The Fish

"Shameless" by Garth Brooks

Song Edited to fit by Dimples

__

Well I'm shameless

When it comes to lovin' you

I'll do anything you want me to

I'll do anything at all

Five months. That's how long it had been since she'd gotten laid. Sure, it was a crude term, but at the time it was the only way she could refer to her lack of… just her lack of. It wasn't that she was an addict or something, but there was always that little nagging voice in the back of her head that was poking fun at her for being the complete relationship-failure that she was. 

"Get you act together, Paige. You're never going to find Mr. Right by being so picky. Go out and meet new people. Glenn isn't the only fish in the sea…"

Glenn _had _been her only fish for a while. Almost too long, now that she looked back on their relationship. Elementary school seemed far away now that she hadn't seen him for a few months. He was off on another one of his adventures again. Although she used to know exactly where he was all the time before their break-up, it was different now. He had left with a rift the size of the Grand Canyon between them, and it hurt to know that he'd gone off thinking that she hated him. The truth of it was that, despite their long history and messy separation, she still loved him as much as she always had, just in a different way. He was too much like her brother for her to be sleeping with him. She wanted someone who made her feel like Jell-O, not someone who gave her the tingles, as Glenn often did. Although tingles were okay with him, tingly Jell-O would be better with someone else. 

__

And I'm standin'

Ever on the world, it seems

Baby that's what's left of me

Don't have very far to fall

Paige sat at the bar of P3, drowning out her troubles in root beer and sparkling cider. She's been scoping out her possible catches of the day since she had walked in wearing her tight coral dress with the ruffles along the hem and neckline, but after turning down three perfectly respectable suitors, she found herself longing for Glenn. She had questioned her decision to break up with him ever since he had left, but suddenly she began comparing every guy she met to him. This guy wasn't as tall as he was, that guy didn't have his deep brown eyes. He doesn't have any adventures, he doesn't wear enough T-shirts, the list went on. P3 used to be the hub of the male population for her, but now it seemed like nothing more than slim pickings.

"Another round?" Piper appeared at the counter and waved an ice cold Barq's in front of her. The condensation that had collected around its slim glass bottom splashed onto the napkin where Paige had written "Glenn" over and over. The droplets made the ink run until the name was no longer visible. She crumpled up the napkin and tossed it into her purse.

"Hit me, barkeep," she replied, handing her sister her glass with all the melted ice in it. "I could use a stiff drink right now."

Piper grinned as she dumped the water and refilled the glass. "Still bummin' over Glenn, huh? Well I know what will take your mind off the guy."

Paige swirled the root beer around until it was frothy before she looked up and let her lower lip stick out. "Weally?"

"Yeah, he's right over there," she pointed to a guy at the other end of the bar. He was handsome, well built underneath a wife-beater that was half hidden by a red Hawaiian shirt, which accented his tan, chiseled arms. He had light brown hair which was cut short and spiked ever-so impeccably, and a crooked smile that only came up on one side as he gave her a feeble wave. "He said he wanted to buy you a drink, and I didn't have the heart to tell him you got them for free. He was too cute." 

"I don't know, Piper," she said as she continued to slosh her drink around. "He could be a stalker or something. What if he-"

"I don't want to hear it, Paige. He seems like a great guy. His name is Adrian, he's twenty-eight, he's not a smoker, and he thinks you're beautiful. What more could you possibly ask for? Now get over there and get to work! You'll never find anyone by sitting here and bumming drinks off me." Piper took the root beer glass out of her hand and dumped it in the sink behind her. "If you ever want another drink from me, you'll get your ass up and talk to him… now."

Paige frowned, but stood and gave Piper her patented sneer before turning to the guy at the bar and smiling halfheartedly. "Adrian?"

Adrian gave her another crooked grin and stood offering her a seat next to him. "Yeah…?" He trailed off, and Paige realized that he didn't know her name. 

"Paige. Matthews. I guess Piper forgot to tell you." She sat and let her crocheted handbag fall to the floor with a soft thud.

"The bartender? Yeah, I guess. Do you know her?" Adrian leaned on the countertop and took a sip of his Corona. His gray eyes were large and full of curiosity as he searched her with them. This guy was genuinely interested. 

"She's my sister, I ought to know her. At least I think I know her. We just met a few months back."

Adrian's eyebrows arched and she laughed as she proceeded to explain the details of her home life. How she was given up by her birth mother, and was adopted by her parents who were later killed in a car crash, and how she was reunited with both of her sisters the year before. She kept it short, but tried to get all of it in without boring the guy to death. She did, however leave out one important piece of information: she was a witch. Despite this, he remained enthralled up until she had finished. 

__

I don't break easy

I have my pride

But if you need to be satisfied 

"Wow," he whistled as she completed her tale. "My life pales in comparison. I was an army brat, so we moved around a lot, my parents and I. They were killed in a crash too, just last year. It was an airplane though. My dad was taking my mom to a Vietnam reunion in Buffalo. They never found out what happened."

"Really? That's horrible. It's so hard to lose your parents, even after a year it still must hurt." Paige laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and he grinned.

"Yeah, but it's been a while. I mostly like to remember the good times that we had together." He began to regale her with his adventures in the Kaibur Pass in the mountains of Pakistan and the uncharted regions of the Arctic wilderness in Russia. She found herself drawn to that crooked smile and his stormy eyes which looked beyond her creamy skin and slim figure and delved deep into her heart to find out who she really was. She spent the night laughing at his jokes and the quirky sense of humor which he used to describe the places he had been to with such eloquence. He had been to more places than she could count, many of which she couldn't even pronounce, and he had this way of making her see each sandbar and each jungle inside her head. It was… poetry. 

The night flew by and the crowds dissipated in the wee hours of the morning. Paige remained on her stool, drowning in the depths of stories of the South China Sea and Adrian's near-death experience in a Taiwanese prison camp. The only thing that turned her attention away from his thin but perfect lips was an impatient cough from behind the bar. Paige glanced over her shoulder at Piper as she cleared her throat. The older sister tapped her bare wrist where the tattoo wrapped around it, signaling that she too wanted to leave. Paige sighed and looked up at the clock on the wall. It read half past three.

"Oh my God," Paige leapt off her seat and grabbed her purse, frantically searching for a pen. "I have to go. I have to work in the morning. Er, today, in a few hours, whatever. Adrian, it was great meeting you." She reached into her bag and pulled out the first thing that resembled paper. She scrawled the number to the manor on the wet, wrinkled napkin and handed it to Adrian. "Please call me. I'd like to finish our conversation sometime."

"Then I'll take you to dinner tomorrow," he replied as he put the napkin in his pocket without looking at it. "I'll pick you up here at eight."

It was more of a statement than a request, leaving little room to argue. All or nothing. Paige bit her lip, knowing that she had a meeting with the foster family for a child at social services the next night, but also knowing that she was about to let this amazing guy slip through her fingers. "Okay. Right here at eight. See you then. Bye, Piper." Paige turned to leave but felt a firm hand clamp down on her wrist. Adrian spun her around with ease and pulled her into his lap. Paige fought for a minute, frightened to be held so tightly, but melted like butter on a hotplate as he pressed his lips against her own with just enough force to make her head spin. He released her and helped her to her feet.

"See you tomorrow, Paige," he winked at her and headed up the stairs and out of the club.

"What was _that_ all about?" Piper gave her little sister an inquisitive look as she leaned her elbows on the bar, the dishtowel that she had been holding abandoned on the floor.

"I think I'm in love," Paige sunk back onto her stool and rested her chin on her hands. "He's so amazing, Piper. And that kiss… hook, line, and sinker. I'm gone. There's no turning back now."

__

I'm shameless

Honey I don't have a prayer

Every time I see you standin' there

I go down upon my knees

Piper rolled her eyes. "What are you babbling about?"

"He's Mr. Right, Piper! My new fish in a sea of not-so-great fish! And YOU found him for me!" Paige leaned over the counter and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck, squeezing solidly. "Thank you!"

Piper patted Paige's back in surprise and waited until she was half way out the door before calling out a feeble, "You're welcome!"

***

Paige didn't sleep that night, and she was too busy rearranging her schedule for Adrian and filling out paperwork the next morning to think that perhaps she looked like the walking dead. She kept her long, straight hair pulled back in a low ponytail at the nape her neck and flashed her wide smile to compensate for her lack of preening. By the time the end of the day rolled around, she was sick of the strange looks and whispered questions, but remained cheery as she dashed out the door in order to prepare for her date.

"Phoebe met her at the door when she pulled into the drive of the manor a few minutes later, the cordless phone in her hand. "You had to give the guy your home number, didn't you?" She handed Paige the phone and a slip of paper. "He's been calling nonstop all afternoon, insisting that you call him the _second_ you get home. So call him for pity's sake!"

Paige took the paper in confusion and glanced at it. "Why didn't you just give him my work number?"

Phoebe scoffed. "Don't think that I didn't try. The guy just said, 'No, she'll call me' and hung up. Talk about a basket case. Where'd you find this one, a back alley behind Bellevue?"

"P3, actually. And he's not a basket case. He's perfectly wonderful. Thanks for the message, but I gotta go get ready. Big date tonight." She sprinted up the stairs and into her bedroom before Phoebe could make another remark against Adrian.

__

And I'm changing

Swore I'd never compromise

But you convinced me otherwise

I'll do anything you need

After a long, leisurely shower, Paige wrapped a fluffy towel around her body and another around her hair before she dialed the number that Phoebe had given her. Adrian picked up a moment later, his voice thick and heavy as though he had been drinking.

"Yeah?"

"Adrian, it's Paige. My sister told me to call you." She waited in awkward silence while he hacked up an organ on the other end of the line.

"Well, it's good of you to make room in your busy schedule for me," he said while Paige almost laughed at the irony in his sarcastic comment. "Are we still on for tonight?"

"Absolutely," she replied, not wanting him to think that she was avoiding him or something. "We're meeting at P3 by the bar, right?"

He was silent for another minute. He coughed before he said, "Actually, my car is sorta dead, so you have to come and pick me up."

Paige hesitated at the finality in his tone before nodding into the phone. "Okay. Where do you live?"

"I live at…" he trailed off, as though he'd forgotten his own house number. 

"You don't know where you live?" Paige asked with a giggle.

"Don't be stupid," he snapped back. "Of course I know where I live. I'm just trying to decide which house I'm going to be at tonight."

"You have more than one house? How does that work?" Paige drummed her fingers on her vanity and unwrapped the towel from her hair while she spoke.

"It's my parents' house. They left it to me when they died and I use it sometimes. Do you have a problem with that?"

Paige faltered and let her towel fall to the floor. "Maybe I should call back when you aren't so… upset."

She was about to hang up when she heard his voice. "Paige, wait… I'm sorry. I just didn't get enough sleep last night, you understand. I didn't mean to blow up at you. Why don't you just pick me up here." He gave her and address in the socialite district of San Francisco and she wrote it down on the same scrap as his number. "If I'm a little late, wait in the driveway, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Paige responded calmly. Adrian seemed genuinely sorry, and it was understandable that he hadn't gotten much sleep, considering that they had been talking all night. "Eight 'o' clock, your place. See you there."

"Thanks, Paige. See you tonight." He hung up.

__

You see in all my life, I've never found

What I couldn't resist, what I couldn't turn down

I could walk away from anyone I ever knew

But I can't walk away from you

***

At 8:15, Paige was a little impatient. At 8:30, she was a little _angry_, but by the time 9:00 rolled around, she was royally pissed off. When the digital clock in her lime green Volkswagen Beetle clicked over to 9:15, she revved her engine and slammed it into reverse. Not a moment later, a bright red, rusting Mustang swerved around the corner, it's horn blaring as it pulled up behind her, blocking her in. Adrian jumped out of the car and ran to her door. He grabbed her open window and stopped to catch his breath.

"I'm so *pant* glad you're still *gasp* here!"

Paige flicked his fingers off her door and put the beetle in park. "Yeah, well, I won't be here much longer. You asked me to meet you here at eight. I was here at eight, while you didn't show up until quarter past nine! And your car doesn't exactly look dead. I think that just about screws any plans we may have had for tonight, or ever for that matter. I'll see you around." She rolled up her window and attempted to back out around the still-running Mustang, but Adrian pounded on the glass, his hands clenched into tight fists. 

"Come on, Paige! There's a good explanation for this!… Stop the car, goddamn it!" His eyes were blazing, the color in them seeming more black than gray. She could almost see lightning flicker behind his lashes. It scared her, but she heaved as though nothing was wrong and hit the brake, rolling down the window again. 

"This had better be good."

"Hey, get off my ass. I told you my car was dead, and it is. I may be bad with time, but I'm not a liar, dammit. A buddy of mine lent me his after we tried for two hours to get mine working and nothing happened. I'm sorry I was late. I should have called your house or something… forgive me?" His eyes, now clearing of the storm that had been brewing in them, pleaded with her in the dim light from the street lamps, and instantly her knees weakened. He smiled at her crookedly and she felt as though she might slide right off her seat. She was Jell-O. 

"Alright, you're forgiven. But just this once. You can't get away with being _this_ late. Next thing you know you'll be standing me up or beating me with a stick or something." She flashed him a smile and laughed at her own joke before shutting off her car. 

Adrian opened her door for her and extended his hand, all the anger receded from his body. Paige placed her fingers in his palm and he pulled her from the car. He kissed her knuckles lightly as he slammed the door and offered her his arm. "There's a first time for everything," he whispered.

__

I've never let anything have this much control over me

I worked too hard to call my life my own

I made myself a world and it's worked so perfectly

But it's your world now, I can't refuse

I've never had so much to lose

***

Weeks went by and the dates continued, although Adrian was never late again. He remained as sweet and as good-natured as he was when they had first met, but that was only around other people. When they were alone, it was like he was an entirely different person. Paige saw more of his temper as they grew closer, each time something got in his way. If someone cut him off in traffic, he went nuts. If they didn't have the right kind of deli meat in the supermarket, he flipped out. And he took it out on the person who was closest to him: Paige.

"Dammit, Paige. I told you we shouldn't have come here. What the hell is your problem?"

But she shrugged it off. Sure, he had a bad temper, but who didn't? Otherwise, he was amazing, and she could handle his outbursts. She was a witch, wasn't she? The thing of it was that, while she was with him, she almost forgot who she was. She almost forgot that she was a _witch_. He made her lose herself, but was that always a good thing? She thought he was The One, but he kept… holding her back. She would have to wait and see.

Unfortunately for her, however, once Piper and Phoebe had met her new beau on a more personal level, they instantly found him to be far from acceptable. 

"Paige, look at him! He's practically a psycho killer!" Phoebe said one night after he had dropped her off. "I bet he's got whips and manacles in his basement."

"Really, Paige," Piper put in as they cornered her in the foyer. "He's possessive, irritable, and _scary_. You should have seen him pacing while he was waiting for you to come down earlier. I though he was possessed. Hey, you don't think-"

"He's not possessed. He's not a demon-" Paige shot a glare at Phoebe, "he's not a warlock, and he's not going to try to kill us! For the first time since Glenn, I've found a guy who likes me for me. Can't you guys see that? Just get off his case, okay?"

Both sisters gave her the "I-don't-know-about-this" look before they shrugged in unison and took off for opposite corners of the manor. "Thanks for your support, guys," she mumbled under her breath as she headed off to bed that night. She needed her sleep. She had another date with Adrian the next day.

__

I'm shameless

I've never lost anything I've ever missed

But I've never been in love like this

It's out of my hands

I'm shameless

***

"Just one drink, Paige!" Adrian shouted over the deep pounding of the bass in the club where they had gone to dance. Once Adrian had found out about Piper's disapproval, he had stopped taking Paige to P3, despite protests that she never got to see her sisters anymore. "It's not going to hurt anything, I swear!"

Paige took the shot glass he offered her and stared at the golden liquid that bubbled inside it. She gulped and handed it back to Adrian. " I can't! I've been sober too long to quit now!" Yet her hand itched to snatch that glass back and down the bitter stuff before Adrian knew what had happened. He was too wasted to see straight anyway.

"Come on, Paige! It's one lousy drink! You're so _boring_! Have a little fun!" He thrust the shot at her. "I dare you!"

She shuddered and looked around. All the people on the dance floor and at the tables were doing shots, chugging beers, and they seemed happy. They look like they were having a good time. She missed the feel of the smooth liquor against her throat, the heat on her stomach as she swallowed. This was her chance to get it all back. She took the glass and swirled it around before tilting her head back and emptying it in her mouth.

"That's my girl!" Adrian cried as she put the glass back on the table with a bang. He refilled it with the bottle of vodka that he had been savoring all night and pushed it at her. "How 'bout another?"

Paige finished off three more rounds hungrily before she began to feel dizzy. Adrian continued to pour her more, funneling it down her throat with comments like, "Come on, baby!" and "I love you, Paige". Despite protests from her stomach, which retched at the thought of one more shot, she also continued to inhale whatever he threw at her. It wasn't until Adrian showed her the empty bottle that she truly felt sick.

"That was awesome, babe! Let's get outta here and do something! Something different, something we haven't dome before!" He took her hand and led her out the door. She only remembered half of the car ride, but she knew what she had done when she woke up the next morning wrapped in only a sheet with Adrian's arm slung across her stomach. 

"Oh God," she whispered as her head seemed to split open in pain. She rolled out from underneath the sheet and collected her clothes from various corners of his house. She left a quick note saying that she had to work, and dashed out the door, knowing that he would be angry when he woke.

She drove in stunned silence all the way back to the manor, but silence isn't exactly was she received when she trudged in the door.

"Where the hell were you?" Piper barked as she threw on a robe over her thin satin nightdress. "We waited up all night!"

"We?" Paige yawned wearily as she looked around. 

"Yes, we," was the reply as Phoebe came out of the kitchen, a cup of coffee in hand. "We were worried about you, Paige."

The youngest sister snorted. "I'm a big girl, you don't need to be worried about me." She tried to stumble past her sisters, but Piper caught her as she fell.

"Don't we? We're just trying to… Are you drunk?" Piper stood her sister up and looked at her sunken eyes and more-pale-than-usual skin. "Paige, are you insane? What were you thinking? You're a recovering alcoholic, you can't be out getting smashed!"

"I was thinking about having a good time, so back off," Paige tore away from then and headed up the stairs. 

"Look at what this guy is doing to you, Paige!" Phoebe called. "He's destroying you!"

Paige halted in her tracks and turned. "Adrian didn't do anything to me! I did it! It was my choice, not his. He loves me, he told me so! He would never do anything to hurt me!" Small flashes of the night before popped into her mind.

_Adrian handed her another shot. "I love you, Paige, just one more…"_

She stormed up the stairs without turning back, but she swore she could here one of her sisters whisper. "Wouldn't he?"

__

I don't have the power now

I don't want it anyhow

So I gotta let it go

I'm shameless

I just thought that you should know

I'm shameless

TBC?

A/N: Pop quiz! What was the symbolism? What was an example of foreshadowing??? There were several, and you don't really need to answer, but I was just wondering if anybody noticed them. Also, I don't know if there _is _a socialite district in SF, but what the hell. "Shameless" was horribly chopped to pieces, but I needed to do it. Sorry to all of you who like the song. Anyway… should I continue? I need feedback! CC welcome and greatly appreciated. I wrote this while I was on the road driving back from Tampa (BTW, I live in Michigan, so I had a LOT of time to work this out), so I didn't have a beta reader. Thanks bunches!

*Dimples*


	2. Shudders

Ties That Break

Pt 2: Shudders

Song: "Island" by Heather Nova

__

iThey're parts of me he'll never know/i

iMy wild horses and my riverbeds/i

iAnd in my throat/i

iVoices he'll never hear/i

"Move in with me."

Paige blinked. Adrian sat across from her at his dining room table, his torso still bare from when they had she had woken up next to him that morning… with yet another horrid hangover. It had been like this for weeks since her encounter with her sisters, waking up in unfamiliar places, with headaches and nausea, and only small memories of the night before. Paige had tried to stop herself, tried to push away the drinks that were handed to her, but the feeling of being free from all responsibility as she took another sip… it was breathtaking. 

"Move in with me," he repeated.

Paige shook her head. It was too much to think about while she had a migraine. "Adrian, I think this is moving a little too fast for me..." 

"You didn't say that last night," he grew angry with her, leaning back in his chair. "Besides, you spend all your time here anyway. It'll save me gas money instead of coming to pick you up every time we go out. And I don't want your sisters influencing your thoughts about me."

"Influencing me? What does any of this have to with my sisters? They're my sisters, and I'm going to stay with them. They need me. More than you know." Paige stood and wrapped her thin robe tightly around her body, squeezing it as though it would force the pain from her head.

"Really?" Adrian followed her as she trudged down the hall and into the bathroom. "They're holding you back, Paige. They're keeping us apart, keeping us from being happy together. I love you, but you're sisters and I don't mix. I want you to stop seeing them."

Paige spun on her heel. "Excuse me? 'I love you but you can't see you sisters anymore'. That's rich, you know that? You should get an award for your tremendous sense of humor or something. You know what, Adrian? You can go to hell."

Before she had a chance to turn away again, she was on the ground, her head numb with pain. Her jaw felt like a broken vase; she couldn't move it. She looked up, her eyes watering, and saw Adrian standing above her, his hand raised as though to strike her again. "Don't you _ever_ speak to me like that again," he hissed. "Or I will kill you."

Paige lowered her head, too sick to reply. _iI could kill you,/i _she thought, _iif only you weren't a mortal._ _/i_

iHe pulls at me/i

iLike a cherry tree/i

iAnd I can still move/i

iBut I don't speak about it/i

She stood slowly, wobbling as she reached out to grab something to help her up. She found Adrian's hand waiting for her. He lifted her off the ground as though she were a rag doll and tilted her chin up so she was staring into his eyes. They were cloudy, like there was a storm deep inside him, raging and ready to come out. His lips were firm and set in a straight line, and his cheeks were flushed with anger. He breathed heavily for a moment before the color faded and the storm subsided, and he was calm. "I'm sorry, Paige. I love you, I really do love you with all my heart. I don't want to have to hurt you, but when you speak to me like that... just don't do it again, and we won't have a problem. Okay?"

Paige's head spun. She was dizzy, nauseous, and hung over. Anything was all right as long as he didn't hit her again. "Yeah. Okay."

Adrian's face was fuzzy as he smiled widely and kissed her. "Good. It's off to work for you, missy. We'll talk more about this later. Scoot." He turned her around and smacked her hard on her rear as he gave her a push back into his room, where her clothes hung across a chair, waiting for her to put them on. She sighed and rubbed her cheek again as she dragged her shirt over her head.

__

***

"San Francisco social services office, Paige Matthews," Paige picked up her phone in her cubicle and answered in her usual fashion, except that today she did it more slowly. Her head still pained her slightly, and her jaw was sore. She ignored it and continued on with her work.

"Paige, it's Phoebe," came the reply, although it seemed hesitant. 

Paige sighed with relief as she heard her sister's voice. "Hey. I was going to call you when I got home, but I guess you beat me to it." 

"That's just it Paige. That's why I called you. You haven't been to your _real _home in almost three weeks. Have you officially abandoned us, or can we expect to see you again before we get so old that we can't see at all?"

"Oh come on," Paige joked. "You know you're happy to have me out of the house. You and Cole and Piper and Leo can have your private "couple time" without me dragging you down anymore."

Phoebe huffed. "Paige, I'm serious. I'm _really _worried about you. You don't call us for weeks on end, we don't know where you are or whom you're with, and you've taken up drinking again. This isn't healthy, and you know it. Why won't you just admit that Adrian is no good and come home? We can help you get your life ba-"

"You can't help me do anything," Paige snapped as her hand flitted to her cheek. "Adrian has given me everything; love, respect, loyalty, and stability. I feel safe with him. I can tell him anything."

She heard Phoebe gasp. "Paige, you didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"You didn't tell him that we're witches… did you?" Phoebe's voice was course, somewhere between hard and soft, trying to be firm without being frightened.

Paige closed her eyes. "I didn't tell him, Phoebe. Don't worry, your secret is safe."

"My secret?" Phoebe asked. "It's your secret, too, Paige. You're our sister, and a fellow Charmed One. You have just as much responsibility as we do here. God, have you forgotten that?"

"How could I forget when you're yelling at me about it?!" Paige cried, probably a little too loudly, as her coworkers glanced over in her direction. She lowered her head and her voice until she was nearly under her desk. "I don't want to talk about this now, Phoebe, or ever. I'm not coming home. If it makes you that upset that I don't call, then I'll be over later to pick up my stuff. I could never leave Adrian. I love him. Besides, he'd probably go ballistic."

Phoebe coughed. "What does that mean?"

"Never mind," Paige replied quickly. "It doesn't matter. It's my problem, and I'm handling it. I'll be by when I get off work. See you then."

"Wait… Paige, what do you mean? Did he hurt you?" Paige faltered as she held the phone to her ear. Her silence prompted Phoebe into a fit of hysterics. "He did, didn't he? I knew it! Paige, you have to get out of there. This isn't something that we can use the power of three on. We can't vanquish a mortal. Paige, please, just come home and we'll work all of it out, I promise."

Paige heard the concern in her sister's voice, but did her best to ignore it. "You don't know what you're talking about," she lied. "Now I have to go… on second thought, I don't think I'll be around later. See you whenever." She slipped the phone back onto its cradle despite protests from Phoebe on the other end.

_iPretend it never happened, Paige,/i _she thought to herself as she sifted through a pile of papers shakily. _iHe's sorry, and he loves you, and you love him. Pretend it never happened. This will all fade away…/i_

i_Pretend I'm crazy_/i

__

iPretend I'm dead/i

iHe's too scared to hit me now/i

iHe'll bring flowers instead/i

"Paige!"

She looked up, her eyes trying to adjust to the quick movement. She didn't see who approached her until it was too late. Leo passed through the crowd of people in the office like Moses through the Red Sea, the group parting for him as he pushed through. _iHe got here quick,/i _she thought as he neared. _iPiper probably sent him the second Phoebe got off the phone. /i_

"Paige, we have to talk," he said as he leaned on her desk. "And we have to talk now."

"Does it really have to be now, Leo? I'm kinda swamped." She stacked her thin piles so they looked larger than they were. "Besides, I already told Phoebe-"

"I know what you told Phoebe, and it's all bull," he interrupted. "Nobody has the right to hit you, no matter who they are."

"What are you talking about, Leo?" she hissed through clenched teeth. "Why does everyone suddenly think that someone's hitting me? Why don't you just go back to your wife? I'm sure she needs more attention than I do right now." She stood and began to make her way through to the copy room, stumbling over invisible mail carts and nonexistent swivel chairs. 

"Is that what this is about?" he asked quietly as he tried to help her to her feet. "You don't want to be the only single Halliwell, so you shack up with the first reasonable guy that comes along?"  
Paige spun on her heel, nearly tripping as she slapped him hard across his jaw. "Who's hitting whom now, Leo?" When he didn't reply, she nodded. "Right. Go home, Leo. I don't need you." She slipped into the empty copy room and watched her brother-in-law as he walked away, his hand cradling his stinging jaw, and his heart bearing his wounded pride. She turned her back to the window and covered her face in her hands, whispering aloud to herself. "What have I done?"

i_I need an island_/i

__

iSomewhere to sink a stone/i

iI need an island/i

iSomewhere to bury you/i

iSomewhere to go/i

***

The next week, Phoebe's call was still bothering her. Paige was quiet all during dinner with Adrian one night, but that was to be expected. He talked aimlessly about anything, but most of all how beautiful Paige looked when she was "being free", as he put it. He handed her another drink.

"You're so gorgeous," he whispered into her hair as he leaned over the table in the expensive French restaurant he had taken her to. She hated French food. "You're so gorgeous when you don't have any reservations, Paige. Don't ever let anyone tell you that a little wine is bad for you." He kissed her neck, tracing her jaw line with his lips until he reached her earlobe. He bit down gently, startling her, and she pulled away.

"What?" he asked. "I thought you liked that stuff, Paige. All that romantic, mushy crap. Or is it me? Don't you love me, Paige? Because I love you."

"No, Adrian, it's not you. I just… Phoebe called me last week and-"

"I thought I told you to stay away from them," he hissed. "I thought you and I had an understanding."

"We do," she said quickly, trying to control his temper before it got out of hand. "_iShe/i _called _ime/i._ She tried to tell me to leave you, but-"

"She did _what_? That bitch. Come on, Paige," he threw a fifty dollar bill down on the table, probably not enough to cover even the wine they had ordered, and stood, her upper arm clenched firmly in his large hand. "We're going home to talk about this."

The hostess tried to stop them as Adrian dragged her out the door, but he pushed passed her without pausing. He was perfectly lucid until they reached his car, and then everything hit the fan. 

"I told you not to speak to them!" he shouted as he threw her against the side of the car. "I told you not to see them! And you ignored me!" His hand swung around faster than she could see, landing a blow to her temple that left her lightheaded and faint. Her head whipped around, like someone was pulling it on a string and she couldn't make them stop. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her furiously, screaming at her. "Paige, why did you do it?! Why did you make me do this to you? I love you, Paige, I don't want to have to hurt you!" When her head lolled to one side and she didn't answer, he loosened his grip and wrapped his tree trunk-like arms around her. "I'm sorry…let's just get you home."

i_And the dogwoods shimmer _/i

__

iIn the October sun/i

i"Sweet thing," he sings to me/i

i"You're the only one." /i

Paige drifted off to sleep on the ride home, despite the nagging voice in the back of her head that told her she probably had a concussion and shouldn't be sleeping. Pitch-blackness enveloped her mind, leaving little room for the little voice to argue, and so it was silenced, crouching in the recesses until it was time to come out and warn against her next stupid idea. As the voice quieted, so did the rest of the car. The radio was no longer blaring Dave Matthews Band, and the brakes were no longer squealing as Adrian stopped too quickly at the traffic lights. Her memory of a few moments before was pushed away in a sea of flashed visions, like a premonition that had already happened. She saw her parents death, the fiery wreck embedded in her brain, and she heard screams of the innocents that they hadn't been able to save. She saw Leo and Piper holding each other, crying as a casket is lowered into the ground. _Prue,_ her dream-mind thought. But there, on the headstone, as it was revealed by the passing casket, read a name she hadn't thought about. Phoebe Halliwell. She saw herself standing behind a tree a few yards away, a bottle of booze in her hand. Adrian came up behind her and took her hand, leading her away from her own sister's funeral. She fought him, she wanted to stay, but he picked her up with what seemed like inhuman strength and carried her off. She blinked and the cemetery was gone. Adrian carried her through a house, messy but large and handsome. There were children's toys littering the ground, and Adrian called a name that she didn't recognize. A small boy and a girl who seemed a bit younger dashed out into the hallway, their faces bruised and disfigured with beatings, but she recognized them. They both had her full lips and stubborn chin while their eyes flashed a stormy gray. They were her children. Adrian shouted at them, and kicked the toys out of his way, but he never let her down as he shoved his own children out of his way. He stormed down a never-ending hallway, running faster and faster until he finally gave up and dropped her. Her head smashed against the floor and she heard her own neck snap.

i_I need an island_/i

__

iSomewhere to sink a stone/i

iI need an island/i

iSomewhere to bury you/i

iSomewhere to go/i

Her eyes popped open as a car horn blared outside her window. Adrian was shouting at a driver along the road as he weaved in and out of traffic. "Where'd you learn how to drive, asshole? Yeah, you! Fuck you too, you bastard! Paige, we're almost home, wake up." 

She grimaced and shielded her eyes from the lights of a car heading in the opposite direction. The dream still felt real in her mind, and she clenched her fists tightly until he pulled into the driveway of his house. He tried to reach for her, but she shied away, her knuckles white.

"Don't do this again, Paige. I said I was sorry, now let's go in the house." He took her arm and she struggled against him, the vision of the battered children fresh in her head. Once he realized that she wasn't going to go quietly, his face hardened and he took both her wrists in one hand, while he used the other to bloody her nose and split her lip. "I'll tell you one more time, Paige. Don't fight me. How can I protect you from yourself if you won't cooperate?" She relaxed instantly in his grip, stunned from the blow. He unfastened her seat belt and carried her into the house. She whined for a second, afraid to be dropped as in her dream, but he held her tightly to his chest as though he was carrying a baby. He laid her gently on his bed and removed her shoes, then let her roll onto her side. He pressed a tissue to her face to stop the bleeding, and sat with her while she tried to regain a bit of sense. Once she realized that she had no idea what was going on, she let herself drift away again, only this time she didn't allow herself to dream. Just senseless dark for a few hours her body worked away the alcohol in her system. 

She woke up in the morning, while it was still dark, feeling sick. She rolled out of the bed onto the floor and turned to make sure that Adrian hadn't woken up. Sure enough, he was snoring softly with just a thin sheet wrapped around his hips. She took slow steps to the bathroom, covering her eyes as she flicked on the light switch. She lowered her hand and stared into the mirror. The woman standing before her wasn't someone she recognized. Her eyes, what she could see of them through the bruises, were bloodshot and empty. Her lower lip stuck out at an odd angle, and blood was caked to the entire right side of her face from her nose and the cut on her mouth. From her left temple all the way down to her chin was a giant purple welt; the remnants of their first battle covered up nicely by new black and blue marks from the night before. She squinted. Her cheekbones were drawn and frail. She looked down, and saw that she could count her ribs through her lace-thin shirt. 

"This isn't me," she whispered. "This can't be me." She touched her fingers to her face and grimaced. It was her after all. And there was nothing to be done about what was in the past. Her future, however was an entirely different matter. She set her chin, determined, and snuck back into his room. She grabbed her shoes and her bag from the corner, watching where she stepped as she crept out of the room and down the hall. The door was so close, she almost touch it. But beneath her feet the floorboards groaned, and she froze. There was a loud grunt from the other room, and then a cry. 

"Paige?!" 

i_And I know why I can't tell my sisters_/i

__

iHe spat in my face again/i

iAnd I don't want to die here/i

iYou that dream where your feet won't /i

iYou want to, but you can't/i

He had heard her. She forced open the door and took off down the front yard. She heard him screaming behind her, and saw that he was following. He had his boxers sagging low, so it was harder for him to run, but he still had the advantage: he knew the neighborhood, she didn't. She sprinted hard, her lungs burning, towards the largest amount of noise, a busy street just a few blocks away. She could hear him calling for her, pleading, begging, screaming for her to stop.

"Paige, don't do this! I said I was sorry! Stop, God damn it, stop!" He was like a bull charging after her, an unstoppable force driven by the red that oozed from her wounds. The street was in sight, and she could see cars whizzing past, probably faster than they ought to be going. She dropped her bag, her shoes, but held onto her purse. _iJust one more block, /i_ she told herself as she heard her heart pounding in her ears. _iAlmost there…/i_ Time seemed to slow down around her as she threw herself into the street, trying to put traffic between herself and Adrian. She looked up as a high-pitched squeal invaded her mind. The car that came at her was going too fast to stop, and she didn't have the strength to move out of the way. It tried to skid around her, but the sudden impact of the mass of steel against her body sent her flying, back onto the sidewalk. She couldn't see, she couldn't move, but she heard Adrian cursing as he came up to her. The driver of the car stopped and spun around, driving back to see if she was all right. Paige heard whispers, quiet voices in her head that told her that her sisters needed her, she couldn't die. She couldn't die, she couldn't die…

i_He steals it from me_/i

i_He steals it from me_/i

iIt shines like sweat, like jewels/i

iLike something's died too soon/i

iAnd he fucks with the beauty/i

iI need and island/i

iSomewhere to sink a stone/i

iI need and island/i

iSomewhere to bury you/i

iSomewhere to go/i

iTo go/i


	3. Tested and Tried

Ties That Break

Part 3: Tested and Tried  
Song: "I'm Alive" by Heather Nova

__

iYour hands were covered in paint/i

i_The pillow smothered my cry_/i

i_You were half charmer, half snake_/i

i_I lived and dreamed time_/i

Piper sat with her face buried in her hands, trying to fight off the urge to pummel the first person that happened to pass her by, but at the same time she tried to keep herself from weeping openly in the crowded waiting room. 

Leo was pacing the length of the corridor outside, itching to orb in and heal Paige before the nimrod surgeons had a chance to kill her on the operating table. But he knew that if he exposed himself and the girls, it would just make things worse for everyone, so he bit his nails and paced. 

Phoebe was laying on a couch, her head resting on Cole's leg while he stared off into space. Then there was Tom, the driver that had hit Paige on the highway. Luckily for all the Halliwells, he had a conscience and stopped in time to call an ambulance and the police when he saw the bruises on her face, and the half naked man that had chased her into the street. Now he sat rigidly in his chair, biting his nails and drumming them on the armrest. 

Piper glanced up and watched him, listening to the steady rhythm against the hardwood. Her sister might be dying, less than a hundred yards away, and there was nothing that she or her whitelighter husband could do about it. She blamed herself, for forcing Paige to talk to Adrian in the first place, and for letting her stay with him as long as she had. Piper wrung her hands and counted the breaths she took, trying to occupy her mind and take herself away from this place, where it stank of urine and death. She didn't have the strength to stay strong anymore, she didn't have power to hold it all in. Her baby sister was dying in the next room, she was being cut open, dissected, and there was nothing she or her whitelighter husband could do to help. She had already lost one sister, and she didn't think that she would survive if she lost another.

***

Paige was standing outside herself, watching the mass of people surrounding her. Nurses took orders in silence, every so often pausing to look down at her battered face. There was so much blood, coming from what seemed like every part of her body. She glanced down at her right leg, and grimaced as she the mangled limb that was where it used to be. Her skin was torn in a hundred different places, and she choked back her disgust as a nurse pushed a bone back into her leg just below her knee, which only caused more blood to ooze from the wound. She turned away from the horrific scene, covering her mouth with her hand, but she still heard the shouts from the surgeons, the commands for transfusions and morphine. 

She raised her head, ready to turn around, but stopped short when she saw the woman standing in front of her. 

She was young, her raven hair flowing down over her shoulders. Her white silk dress clung to her curves with simple elegance that accented her slim figure. Paige's mouth dropped open slightly as she recognized the woman from the pictures around the manor. "Prue?"

She nodded with a smile. "Nice to meet you, little sister," Prue said as she enveloped Paige in a firm hug. "It's too bad we couldn't have met while I was still alive."

"Looks like we'll be getting to know each other pretty well sometime soon," Paige replied with a sigh. 

Prue shook her head. "That's why I'm here, Paige. They sent me to send you back. It's not your time yet." She pointed to the bed over Paige's shoulder, and the younger woman whirled in time to see the line on a monitor go flat. There was pandemonium among the hospital personnel, each person spreading out to find a new job to do. She saw the doctors shocking her, and she could feel it in her chest each time, pulling her back towards the bed. 

"They need you, you know," Paige whispered with her back still turned to Prue. "Piper and Phoebe, they need you."

Prue smiled and shook her head. She came up behind her sister and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah," she said. "But they need you more." With that, she gave Paige a hard shove, sending her flying at the table. 

Paige felt herself hit the table at full force, yet nothing was disturbed. Instead, she seemed to be absorbed back into her body. She heard Prue's voice in her mind. "You'll understand soon." And then all she saw was blackness.

i_But I'm alive_/i_  
_i_I survived you_/i_  
_i_And the bitter taste_/i_  
_i_The years I wasted_/i_  
_i_All the hate is gone_/i_  
_i_'Cause I'm alive_/i

***

Paige squinted beneath the bright fluorescent lights that shined down on her from the ceiling. Everything below her waist was numb, and as she glanced down at her leg, she saw the pins that were holding it together. The white gauze that was wrapped from her thigh to her heel was soaked in red, but crusted over, which meant that she at least had stopped bleeding. Her toes, the only exposed part of her leg, were slightly purple and tingly when she tried to move them. Unfortunately, any movement of either leg sent a wave of pain up and down her spine. She rolled her eyes and settled back onto her pillow to assess the room surrounding her. 

Out her window, the sky was darker than she had ever seen it, and lightening flashed against the tall buildings of San Francisco. The clock by her bed read just after three in the afternoon, so she knew that the overcast clouds were the reason for the lights to be on and in her eyes. The heavy droplets of rain spattered against the glass in a steady drum, forming a kind of awkward rhythm that fell in time with the droning of her heart monitor. Paige sighed and leaned back, intent on falling back asleep, but something below her caught her attention. A cough, very quick and soft, but a cough just the same. She leaned over the railing carefully, looking down at the floor. There, curled up on a rollaway cot, shivering near a cooling duct, lay Phoebe. Her hair was matted down against her forehead, and her usually impeccable clothes were a wrinkled mess, and Paige knew that she hadn't showered in days. Her eyes were clenched shut tightly, as though she was having a bad dream, and her cough only made her seem more frail as she pulled herself into a tighter ball. Paige decided to let her sleep, and turned her attention to the other side of the bed. Sure enough, looking equally disheveled on a matching cot, Piper lay in silence as she trembled in the cold. She wasn't asleep like her sister, but she looked like the dead, as she lay motionless on her side. Paige watched her for a moment, studying her pale face. Piper checked her watch, then rubbed her bloodshot eyes before she glanced up. She jumped in surprise when she noticed her little sister staring down at her.

"Paige, oh my god," she got up on her knees and leaned against the bed as she took Paige's hand, her eyes misting over. "Oh my god, oh my god…" She buried her face in her sisters knuckles and broke down, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. 

"Piper," Paige whispered, tapping her sister on the top of the head. "Piper, I'm okay. Please, just look at me." 

Piper slowly lifted her head and looked up at Paige through red-rimmed eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and she continued to quiver as she wiped her face dry. "We thought you were dead," she murmured. "When they called us… Leo tried to orb in and heal you before they could do something, but he was too late. By the time any of us got here, you were already in surgery, and when you came out, you looked so… I don't know. Dead. The doctors said that you were going to be okay, but you didn't look like you were okay. Leo couldn't heal you because of the pins," she nodded towards Paige's leg, "and they wouldn't let us take you home. It's been one nightmare after another for over a week. I just-"

Paige threw her hand up to stop her sister, then winced as a twinge went down her neck. "Wait a minute. A _week_? I've been out for a week, and no one told me?"

Piper let out a feeble laugh and shook her head. "You put us through a lot, Paige."

"More than you know." Phoebe crawled up onto the edge of the bed, groggy but still more awake than Paige was. "And you slapped Leo?"

Paige averted her eyes and fiddled with her blanket. "Look, you guys, I'm really sorry about Adri-"

"Don't worry about it, Paige," Piper cut in, cradling Paige's cheek in her palm. "You're okay now, and that's all that matters. They'll get Adrian later."

Paige's heart sank. "They didn't catch him? But he was there, right before I passed out, I remember him being there. He was standing over me, he was screaming…"

"Tom – the guy who hit you – he pulled over and stayed with you until the ambulance came. He said that Adrian took off just after you passed out, running back in the same direction that he came from. No one's seen him since."

"But, um, Paige…" Phoebe said, picking up where Piper left off. "After the first few days, we kinda…"

"You kinda what, Phoebe?" Paige asked, narrowing her eyes. 

"We called Glenn."

All the air whooshed from Paige's lungs as she collapsed onto her pillow. "You did what?"

Piper leapt to her feet, eager to try and fix things before her incapacitated sister flipped her lid. "We called him, and I know that you and he broke up but you love him, and you know it, so… we tracked him down and told him everything."

Paige closed her eyes and tried to imagine what Glenn would do when he saw her; but then again, he probably already had. "When did he get here?" 

"Two days ago," Phoebe replied. "He came by, but when he saw you, he left. He couldn't even stay in the same room for very long. He's been in and out a couple times since then, but he always leaves without saying anything. He told me that it hurt too much to see you like this."

Paige shook her head. "Is it really that bad? I thought that black and blue was the new pink." She tried to laugh at her own joke, but it ached too much. Phoebe handed her a little handheld mirror and she grimaced at the bruises that still accented her features. "I guess I can understand why he didn't stay."

"Do you want us to call him? He's staying just down the block at the Marriot. He could be here in five minutes if you want him to be." Piper pulled down the railing on the bed and sat down next to Paige. 

"No," she replied. "I don't want to see him like this, even if he's already seen me. When I go home, and Leo heals my bruises, then I might see him. But I don't know what I'd say. 'Sorry, Glenn. I left you for guy who liked using me for a punching bag. I hope you understand'."

Piper nodded and pressed her forehead against Paige's, but pulled away quickly as Paige jumped in fright. "I'm sorry," Piper said, wiping a stray hair from Paige's face. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, it's just… Adrian never got close to me without hitting me in the process, so I'm not used to the warmth of human comfort, you know?" Paige relaxed a little bit as her sisters smiled back at her, the love in their eyes filling her with a renewed hope that, just maybe, she could turn her life around after all.

i_Some nights I'd sleep in the car_/i_  
_i_Just to escape you_/i_  
_i_You drove devotion too far_/i_  
_i_No one could save you_/i

***

It took another week before the doctors decided Paige was recovering well enough to go home. They left the massive metal clamp on her leg, pins and all, and gave her enough drugs to kill a small village somewhere, but she was just glad to be out of that room. Glenn hadn't been by since she'd woken up, but she thought that it was probably because her sisters had steered him far away from the hospital. It didn't matter though, because she knew that nothing she could say would ever make him accept the apology he had coming to him. It was too late for apologies. 

An orderly rolled her down the bright corridor with Piper and Phoebe in tow, and following closely behind them were Leo and Cole. Paige smiled warmly at all the nurses who clapped heartily as she passed, each one unfamiliar to her but still happy that she was going home. She waited patiently in the elevator, drummed her fingers at the front desk, and rolled her eyes while Leo went to get the car. Piper kept a firm hand on her shoulder while Paige looked around nervously. 

"He's not here, sweetie," Piper murmured when she saw Paige shooting glances at the bushes next to her. "He won't come after you while you're with us, and if he does… well, let's just hope he doesn't."

Paige nodded, slightly more at ease, but the tension in the car was choking her beyond belief, and just as Leo pulled up to a red light, Paige blew her top. "Ok, look. I know you all really don't like the position I've put you in, and I'm sorry. All right? I'm really truly sorry. I don't care that you say you don't want apologies, because I know that you do, so I need to get this off my chest. You guys were right. The whole time, you were right. Leo, I'm sorry that I hit you, I was drunk, hungover, whatever, and I didn't mean to get mad at you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She paused to catch her breath. "Oh, by the way, the light's green."

Leo let out a snort, sending a wave of chuckles throughout the Jeep. The tension broken, they all laughed together until they pulled into the driveway of the manor. Sitting in an idling taxi outside the front door was Glenn, his arms crossed over his chest as he waited to see her. Paige gulped as he stepped out of the cab and sauntered across the lawn. 

"He can't see me like this!" Paige cried as she tried to hide her face. Piper took her wrist gently and lowered it so she wasn't veiled from him. 

"He loves you too much to care, Paige. Come on, we'll help you out." The oldest sister took her hand and inched her carefully from the car, where Cole had a wheelchair waiting. Paige settled herself in and looked up, meeting the gaze of the big brown eyes which she never thought that she would see again.

"Hey Paige," Glenn mumbled as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Good to see you."

"You too, although I'd like to have done this under friendlier circumstances," Paige gripped the arms of her chair until her knuckles turned white, her stomach twisted into knots, and her heart pounded in her chest. Glenn was darker than she remembered, probably tanned from his latest adventure. His hair seemed more blonde than brown, and, looking up at him, he seemed taller as well. "You look great."

Glenn laughed halfheartedly. "Yeah, well… you too, I think." He fumbled with his words and tried to look nonchalant, but it wasn't working. Paige looked around and saw that her family was standing there, watching them, making them both nervous.

"Why don't we go for a walk? Er, a roll? We have some stuff to talk about." Paige reached up and took Glenn's hand, and she instantly felt better, more relaxed. He smiled and nodded, taking the handles of her chair so that he could push. Paige called over her shoulder as they made their way down the drive. "We'll be back soon!"

i_But I'm alive_/i_  
_i_I survived you_/i_  
_i_And the bitter taste_/i_  
_i_The years I wasted_/i_  
_i_All the hate is gone_/i_  
_i_'Cause I'm alive_/i

***

"It wasn't that I didn't love you, Glenn," Paige confessed as she and Glenn sat in a park about half a mile away from the manor. "I just didn't love you the same way that I once did. It was different."

"Different how, Paige? I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, and you just… threw me away for a this guy who beat the hell out of you." Glenn didn't shout. He didn't even seem angry. Just confused. He tried to reach out and touch Paige's cheek, but she shied away quickly, flinching. "I'm not going to hurt you, Paige. I could never hurt you." She loosened up a bit and he began tracing what she thought was her eyebrow, but turned out to be a line of stitches above her eye. "Nothing will ever be the same, will it? You'll never be able to trust me, and I won't be able to look you in the face without seeing the scars… here, and here." He moved his index finger to a small patch of thread on the side of her chin. His hand shook slightly, but not enough for it to be too noticeable. 

"I never wanted to hurt you, Glenn," Paige answered softly as she took his hand from her face. "I just needed to find someone who…" 

"Who wasn't me?" Glenn finished for her.

"No, no, no," Paige, waved her hand in the air, pushing the idea from his mind. "It wasn't that at all. I needed to find someone who didn't make me feel like I was tied down. You and I, we've been friends forever, and I guess I was afraid to lose that if we made it too serious between us. I didn't intend for our separation to be as messy as it turned out to be. I'm sorry it ended up that way."

Glenn nodded and fell back against the bench, then kicked out at a group of pigeons who had settled on the ground near his feet. "Yeah, me too."

***

There was silence on the walk back to the manor. Paige took in the scenery while Glenn pushed her wheelchair and breathed softly from behind. He didn't say anything as he dropped her off at the door, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before going back to the cab that was still waiting by the curb. Paige tried not to cry as he looked up at her from the rear seat and waved a weak goodbye, then leaned back out of her view as the car took off down the abandoned road. 

She tried to open the door with her trembling hands, but found that she couldn't. She rang the bell impatiently, pressing her finger into it until it turned red at the tip and Piper opened the door, her face flushed. 

"Oh, honey," she said as she pulled Paige into the house. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault, Piper," Paige sobbed as her sister knelt down and enveloped her in a hug. "Glenn and I, we just weren't meant to be together. That's all."

"It's not about that, sweetie," Piper pulled away and looked her in the eyes. "We just got a call from Daryl. They found Adrian."

Paige took in a sharp breath as her attacker's face flashed in her mind. He grinned at her viciously as he lashed out and she was shaken from her daze. "G-good… he's not out on the streets anymore. No one else will get hurt. Not like me."

Phoebe came up behind Piper and rested a comforting hand on Paige's knee. "I know, honey, but you before we can move on, you have to do something. You have to go to the trial next week and show them what he did to you. If you do that, you'll never have to see him again. We promise."

Paige stuttered and pushed past her sisters, forcing her sore arms to roll the wheels into the sitting room. "No, you don't know that. You can't! He'll get out in a couple of years, he'll come after us… we're witches and there's nothing we can do to stop him! I can't do it. I _won't _do it. No, no, no." His evil smile swept past her again, filling her vision until she couldn't see anything. It was like a terrible nightmare that wouldn't go away, even while she was awake. She saw him attacking her sisters, she saw him killing them, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She doubled over as she saw his eyes watching her wherever she went, following her, stalking her. i_I won't let him see me. If he doesn't see me, he can't blame me, and we'll all be safe… I think._ /i

i_I still have visions of you_/i_  
_i_I still have nights to get through_/i_  
_i_And when the trust isn't true_/i_  
_i_I have these visions of you_/i_  
_i_I have these visions of you_/i

***

Despite all her efforts, Paige found herself sitting in a packed courtroom a week later. Adrian hadn't been brought in yet, but a chill was creeping down her spine as the set time for the trial to begin drew near. Her bruises had subsided slightly, but not enough to make her any less battered than she was before the accident. She figured that with all the information that the district attorney had against Adrian, he would at least serve a few years in jail for beating her. 

Piper and Phoebe, who sat on either side of her while her wheelchair was folded in the isle, inched closer to her as the side door opened, and a dirty-looking Adrian entered with two guards holding either elbow. His bright orange jumper didn't flatter his sunken face as he hung his head while they led him to his chair next to a lawyer who had probably been getting him out of trouble since he was a teenager. He patted his client's shoulder affectionately when the judge came in from her chambers, and everyone rose to greet her. 

"All rise!" the bailiff cried as she entered, her robe dragging on the floor. "The case of the People of the state of California versus Adrian Van Bruen. The honorable Judge Hannah J. Wiseman presiding." 

The older woman, with her wire framed glasses and brown hair streaked with white, sat down rigidly, and then commanded the rest of the court to do the same. She pushed the frames up on her nose as she glanced down at the file in her hands, then over at the jury in the corner, and finally toward Adrian in front of her. "Adrian Van Bruen, you are charged with reckless endangerment, and assault with the intent to kill. How do you plead?"

The stuffy lawyer stood in his place and gave the judge a firm and final answer. "My client pleads not guilty, your honor."

A fire raged in Paige's stomach as she heard the words slip past his lips, and she nearly burst out in the courtroom, but the hold that both of her sisters had on her arms kept her silent. "How can he sit there and lie like that?" she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. 

"Easily," Phoebe whispered back. "He's a rat, and that's what rats do. Lie to get out of trouble."

Paige sat back and huffed in anger as the both lawyers opened with their statements to the jury. The attorney for the state, for her, spoke the truth, mentioning Adrian's frequent visits to bars and pubs, along with his history of violent behavior. The defense attorney, however, twisted Adrian's story to fit the crime, making it look as though Paige was to blame. 

"This young lady," the lawyer said, pointing directly at her, "is the reason that my client is sitting here today, but not because he beat her, or because he threatened her life, but because he was defending himself against the angry lashings of a violent drunk. Ms. Matthews was an alcoholic when i_she_/i approached Mr. Van Bruen in a i_bar_/i, owned by one of her sisters, and it was outside a bar where she attacked my client, forcing him to defend himself against her. The bruises you see on her face are not from Mr. Van Bruen or alleged beatings that took place in his home, but from an accident, a tragic accident, when Ms. Matthews stumbled into the middle of a crowded street, drunk and disoriented, and was struck by a car. Will you believe the story of this woman, an alcoholic looking for someone to blame, or Adrian Van Bruen, a man who has been noted to be a pillar of his community? The decision is up to you." His eyes were ablaze as he gave the group of men and women one last look of warning before he went back to his seat. 

***

"The state calls Ms. Paige Matthews to the stand, your honor."

Paige gulped as she heard her name called, one of the last witnesses in a trial that had already lasted four turbulent days. With the help of her sisters, she managed to make it to the witness stand without falling apart or breaking into a million little Paige-shaped pieces. She put her hand on the Bible and swore to tell the truth, then sat back as the cordial DA approached her. 

"Ms. Matthews, what is your age and current occupation?" he asked calmly and politely, without trying to rush her.

She coughed into her hand and spoke nervously, her voice trembling slightly. "I'm twenty-six, and a social worker at San Francisco social services."

"Wow, twenty-six and already a social worker. That job requires a lot of dedication and responsibility, doesn't it?" 

"Yes, it does," Paige tried to remain cool, but her mind was running away from her. 

"So that means that to keep the job, you have to remain sober, doesn't it?"

"That's true, yes."

He went over to his table and picked up a notepad. "According to my records, Ms. Matthews, you've been sober for how many years?"

"Seven. But when I began seeing Mr. Van Bruen, he encouraged me to drink and made it clear that he would leave if I didn't." Paige swallowed hard as the DA continued to fire questions at her. 

"When did you first meet Mr. Van Bruen? Did he approach you, or vise versa? Did he seem violent when you first met? How long did you date? When did he first hit you? Were you sober when he hit you? Why did you stay after he continued the beatings? Why did you decide to leave?" Once the DA had finished and was satisfied that he had won the round, he sat down, and Adrian's attorney stood menacingly before her. He ground his teeth as he spoke, as though he hated the lies but knew that they were crucial to the case. 

"Why did you run into the street that morning?" he asked "Why did Mr. Van Bruen chase you?" It was a series of bombardments again and again, repeating questions, as though trying to trip her up. The DA was constantly interrupting, shouting objections about hearsay and relevancy, but they all seemed to be overruled. When it came down to the wire, just before he was out of things to ask, he sprung it on her. "When you ran out of Mr. Van Bruen's house that night, didn't my client say, and I quote, 'Paige, don't do this! I love you, please stop!'"

Paige narrowed her eyes and glared at the lawyer. "Where did you get your information from, sir?"

"Just answer the question, Ms. Matthews," the lawyer shot.

"How can I answer a question that's false? He never told me he loved me, except when he wanted to get me to do something like get drunk with him. What he said that night was, 'Paige, don't do this! I said I was sorry! Stop, goddamn it, stop!' He was referring to having broken my nose a few hours earlier when he said he was sorry."

The lawyer was untouched. "How can you be sure of that, Ms. Matthews? According to police reports, you had alcohol in your system when the ambulance picked you up. If you were drunk, how could you know what Mr. Van Bruen said?"

"I know because I wasn't drunk. Hungover, yes, but not drunk. I had been asleep for hours, and most of the booze had worked its way out of my system, so my head was clear. Why don't you ask your client how much he had to drink that night?" Paige shot Adrian a look, and was rewarded with a pitiful sneer that seemed to drain the chained man of all his energy. "I'm sure he couldn't tell you, since he had gotten more smashed than me. And he beat the hell out of me when we got back to his house. Check his car, you'll find blood on the seats."

At this, Adrian's lawyer let his mouth close slowly, knowing he was defeated. "No further questions, your honor."

i_And I'm alive_/i_  
_i_I survived you_/i_  
_i_And the bitter taste_/i_  
_i_The years I wasted_/i_  
_i_All the hate is gone_/i_  
_i_'Cause I'm alive_/i_  
_i_I'm alive_/i

***

"We, the jury, find the defendant, Adrian Van Bruen…"

Paige held her breath in her lungs as the foreperson read the ruling the next day. According to Leo, it had taken just two hours to make the decision, and the reading was scheduled for that same day. 

"…guilty of both charges against him."

The air whooshed from her lungs and it felt as though a great weight was lifted off her shoulders. Adrian stood and fought the guards that dragged him away, turning to her as they pulled at him.

"Paige, please! Tell them! I loved you! Goddamn it, what the hell is your problem! I gave you your fucking life back! Fine! Fuck you all!" His curses continued as he was pulled from the room kicking and screaming. Paige grinned and held her sisters' hands tightly. They both wrapped their arms around her and squeezed her as firmly as they thought they ought to and kissed her forehead. 

"It's finally over," Piper said as the crowd filed out of the courtroom. "How does it feel to be a free woman?"

"Better than I expected, even though I wasn't the one on trial." Paige sat back in her seat and gave the judge a quick smile as she retired to her chambers.

Phoebe locked her fingers in her own and patted her non-bandaged leg. "You'll be okay after all, kiddo."

"Hey, I'm not that much younger that you," Paige retorted with a smirk. 

Phoebe shrugged. "You'll always be my little sister… you know, it's great to be able to say that."

Paige looked up at the ceiling as she remembered her vision of the emergency room. "Yeah, I understand now."

Piper gave her an awkward glance. "Understand what?"

Paige sighed. "Nevermind. Besides. I'm alive, and that's all that matters. That, and knowing that you forgive me?"

Piper and Phoebe gave each other a sarcastic look. "I guess we can _consider_ maybe forgiving you a little bit…" Phoebe said as the last person left the room. 

"Yeah," Piper put in. "Besides, without you, we wouldn't be the Charmed Ones anymore, would we?"

Paige shook her head and smiled. "We wouldn't be a family. And family comes first."

i_I'm alive_/i_  
_i_Ride on and fade away_/i_  
_i_I'm alive_/i_  
_i_There's nothing more to say_/i_  
_i_I'm alive_/i_  
_i_Ride on and fade away_/i_  
_i_I'm alive_/i_  
_i_There's nothing more to say_/i

i_I'm alive_/i_  
_i_Ride on and fade away_/i

__

iAnd the bitter taste/i  
iThe years I wasted/i  
iAll the hate is gone/i


End file.
